The first step in handling bowling pins automatically is to retrieve the same from the pit area of a bowling alley and to thereafter elevate the pins for subsequent manipulation, transport forwardly and resetting or re-"spotting" in triangular bowling array on the rear end portion of the bowling alley. Various elevator mechanisms have been employed and in general such mechanisms have been successful in retrieving and elevating fallen bowling pins. A nagging problem, however, and one of long standing has been the jamming of fallen pins which are generally found in an indiscriminate and perhaps interlocking arrangement adjacent the mouth or entrance of the elevator mechanism.
It is the general object of the present invention to provide a baffle adjacent and forwardly of the mouth or entrance of an elevator mechanism which operates efficiently to prevent the jamming of fallen bowling pins as they are introduced to the mouth or entrance portion of the elevator mechanism.
A further object of the present invention resides in the provision of a baffle which exhibits the utmost simplicity in design and construction and which can be expected to enjoy a long service free life, repair and maintenance being a serious problem in automatic pinsetters employed in bowling alleys.